524 HOOKER, BOOTHIAN PLANTS. 



portant, as affording a means of determining the western and 

 eastern limits respectively of several Arctic, Western American, 

 and Greenland plants.* A glance at the northern circumpolar 

 chart shows that the peninsula of Boothia is placed in a very 

 central position amongst the Arctic- American islands, the Botany 

 of the eastern, western, and northern of which has been investi- 

 gated by many indefatigable and intrepid officers, whilst of the 

 central districts, and especially of Boothia itself, nothing has 

 hitherto been known. 



The total number of species brought by Dr. Walker is about 

 170, of which nearly 100 are Flowering Plants. Of these, only 

 46 Flowering Plants, and 58 Cryptogamic, were collected at 

 Port Kennedy ; most of the remainder were gathered either on 

 the coasts of Greenland — at Frederickshaab and Godthaab, south 

 of the Arctic circle, and at Disco (and Godhavn), Fiskemasr, and 

 Upernavik, north of that circle — or in Pond's Bay and Lancaster 

 Sound, to the west of Baffin's Bay. As these are all botanically 

 well-known localities, I shall make no further remarks on them here, 

 observing only that Dr. Walker's plants from these quarters have 

 been of great use to me in drawing up a general account of the 

 whole Arctic flora which I shall have the honour of laying before 

 this Society,! and I shall confine my attention at present to the 

 Port Kennedy flora. 



Port Kennedy is situated in latitude 72° N., and is 250 miles 

 north of that part of the Arctic-American coast which was traversed 

 in 1839 by Dease and Simpson (who made careful collections), and 

 about as far south of the Parry Islands, which have been thoroughly 

 explored by General Sabine, Admiral Sir James Ross, Dr. Lyall, 

 and many other officers. 



The country about Port Kennedy would at first sight appear to 

 be favourable to Arctic vegetation in many ways. It is uncovered 

 by snow from July 1st to October 1st. The soil is not un- 

 favourable, and there are ravines, lakes, marshes, and sea-beach, 

 ofi*ering both shelter and varied conditions for plants ; but yet the 

 flora seems to be considerably poorer than that of any of the 

 surrounding islands — Melville Island containing no less than 67 

 Flowering Plants. Dr. Lyall's Wellington-Channel herbarium 

 contained 50, all collected north of latitude 76° N. ; Dr. Anderson 

 and Herr Miertsching obtained 108 species on Banks Land and 

 the adjacent islands, in latitude 70°-74°: whilst Dr. Rae got 78 

 species on Prince- Albert, Victoria, and Wollaston Lands, in latitude 

 66°-69°. On the west coast of Baffin's Bay, between the Arctic 

 Circle and Lancaster Sound, 80 have been collected. 



Comparing Dr. Walker's herbarium with those to the north, 

 east, and west, I find the following contrasts : — 



* See Dr. Hooker's Memoir on Arctic Plants, Trans, Linn. Soc, xxiii., 

 1861, reprinted (in part), above, pp. 197 et seq. — ^Editor. 

 I The Memoir referred to in the foregoing note. 



